Delta blueprint draft, first of 7 plans, ready

WATER

Published 4:00 am, Monday, February 14, 2011

Water pumps in the delta include ones like this at Yolo Bypass and Liberty Island.

Water pumps in the delta include ones like this at Yolo Bypass and Liberty Island.

Photo: Mark Costantini, The Chronicle

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A wake boarder skis on Victoria Canal in the California Delta on Friday October 17, 2008 in Byron, Calif.

A wake boarder skis on Victoria Canal in the California Delta on Friday October 17, 2008 in Byron, Calif.

Photo: Kurt Rogers, The Chronicle

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A Duck swims along in Italian Slough in the California Delta.
on Friday OCT 17, 2008 in BYRON , Calif

A Duck swims along in Italian Slough in the California Delta.
on Friday OCT 17, 2008 in BYRON , Calif

Photo: Kurt Rogers, The Chronicle

Delta blueprint draft, first of 7 plans, ready

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A state panel tasked with stemming the decline of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is expected today to release the first draft of a long-range management plan that could revive controversial plans for a peripheral canal or other water-conveyance system.

Along with measures to improve water quality and wildlife habitat, the sweeping proposal probably will include at least one version of a multibillion-dollar aqueduct to shunt water around the West Coast's most important estuary to Southern California and parts of the Bay Area.

The preliminary plan is one of seven to be released this year by the Delta Stewardship Council, which has until Jan. 1 to finalize a comprehensive, 50-year plan for the estuary. The overarching goals are two-fold: revitalizing the delta's ecosystem while ensuring water for millions of Californians and some of the most fertile agricultural land in the world - a balance that has eluded policymakers for decades.

"This is probably the biggest review and most important regulatory action regarding the largest piece of California's water puzzle," said Jonas Minton, water policy adviser for the Planning and Conservation League. "They're going to be wrestling with problems that water managers have been dealing with for the last 100 years."

Delta deteriorated

A source of California's water since the Gold Rush era, the delta's health has deteriorated badly over the last decade, lending urgency to the hunt for a solution. In 2009, the Legislature passed a far-reaching water reform package that established the seven-member council and granted statutory weight to its decisions.

In addition to recapping a host of previous scientific, economic and regulatory data, the final plan will include a broad range of recommendations covering everything from establishing migratory corridors for animals and reducing flood risk to financing critical infrastructure and setting totals for the amount of water shipped around the state.

At stake is nothing less than the core of California's water-delivery system.

Located at the confluence of the state's two biggest rivers, the sprawling delta funnels snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada to cities from Alameda County to Ventura County via giant pumps in the south delta. But slaking the thirst of growing cities and farms has taken a toll on the estuary, as have invasive species, weakening infrastructure and toxic pollution from cities and farming.

Populations of native fish species such as delta smelt and salmon have crashed. And geologists fear that rising sea levels or a major earthquake could liquefy the levees and endanger the delta's cities, as well as important energy, water and transportation infrastructure.

Scope of the problems

The scope of the delta's problems, the council's broad mandate and the looming deadline virtually guarantee that each stakeholder group - environmental, agricultural or urban - will take issue with at least some prescriptions offered in the plan.

But others say that after two decades of political gridlock, 2011 may prove to be the year California finally fixes its water crisis. Previous efforts, including a blue ribbon task force appointed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, "took a 10,000-foot view of the delta," said Cynthia Koehler, senior attorney and California water legislative director for Environmental Defense Fund.

"The Delta Stewardship Council is where these ideas come in for a landing. They're going to synthesize these other mandates for the delta and give it direction."

Much discussion is likely to focus on a so-called peripheral canal or tunnel - known in delta speak as a "conveyance" - which has the support of a separate delta planning effort and Gov. Jerry Brown, who promoted a similar project in the 1980s.

Voters rejected that canal proposal in a statewide referendum. But today's pipeline proponents say it is critical to protect water supplies from rising seas and quakes and provide a steady, reliable supply of water to urban centers and farms. Mike Wade, executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition, also insists that without a stable water supply, the family farms that produce the bulk of the state's celebrated agricultural products could be forced out of business.

Critics' warning

But critics - including many of those who live around or within the delta - say it will choke off freshwater flows and turn the estuary into a briny morass even less hospitable to vulnerable fish species. They also have grave concerns about the cost of a pipeline, which comes while California is embroiled in an epic financial mess. The latest estimates for a tunnel run above $12 billion.

"I think the council will have to look at an option for the delta that has no conveyance, based on environmental factors and economics," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, who leads Restore the Delta, an advocacy group for the delta community. "That's where I hold on to hope."

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